944 track day project - how much?

[coupascoopa]

Evenin!

Just wondering, all those out there that bought a 944 with the plan to prep them for the track - how much did you pay for yours, what's a good price to look out for?

cheers
coup

[lali]

Im currently in the throws of thsi very task...

it all depends on whether you want to go down the turbo or NA route.

I used to have a Caterham and was told by my osteopath to either give up driving teh 7 or give up walking without pain, as you can imagine I didnt take much persuasion!

I was holding out for a 968 CS and also looked at a Honda ITR.. but found a clean 90 944S2 for not much over £3K.. it wasnt going to win any concours events and as it turns out the engine needs some work so im having it rebuilt to race spec. I've fitted a cage and have got some race seats and harnesses, ive got 968 M030 arb's and am on the lookout for some suspension and brake upgrades. total cost so far is still way less than the 8-9K i would have spent on an ITR and positivly shed loeads less than the 13K a 968CS would have cost me.

There is a race preped 2.s for sale in PH for £8.5 i think... wouldnt cost much to put the lights back on it and road register it or just trailer it.

[rubystone]

I hope Iguana sees this. He can tell you just how little it can cost - IF you buy the right car in the first place

[skid]

I bought my 944 2.5 lux as a non runner for £900 and it's a post 85.5 MY so has oval dash and alloy crossmenber/lower arms.

It is now devoid of engine, box and interior, courtesy of ebay, and once I sell the Fuch's it will owe me..........NOTHING!!!!!!

Ok I have to replace the box and engine but that is what I want to do anyway. I have a V8 to install and a turbo LSD box that owes me £450.

Even if I spend a few grand on suspension and wheels, and again a few grand on a cage, engine upgrade and fitting (myself), and a few GRP panels then it should owe me less than £5k and should weigh in hopefully not too much over 1000kg and have some serious horses.

It just takes a bit of sweat and effort but a road legal track 944 can be had for much less than £9k.

Cheers
M

[James s]

Depends how far you want to go really. I had aplan to make the biggest differences without spending a massive ammount.

My lhd 944t cost 3,300 and was in great mechanicl condition with around 270 bhp so I didn't feel I needed any more power with my limited skills and spent 300 in road legal track tyres.

I costed up stiffer springs and ARBs at quite a bit less than 1,000 as it did roll about a bit. The brakes got a bit warm so I wanted to spend about 500 here on better fluid, cooling and pads. Beyond that I planned to sell in the heavyeight interior and use the funds to buy a couple of lightwiet seats. The only additional planned purchses were a cage and harnesses for which I allocated 600.

So a total additional budget of just over 2k would ahve produced a pretty handy car for 5.5k.
However I sold it and bought a 968 CS which had half the things alreay done.

[iguana]

rubystone said:

I hope Iguana sees this. He can tell you just how little it can cost - IF you buy the right car in the first place

Indeedy.

Well I guess it all depends the performance & handling you are after & the budget you have.

You could at one end of the market buy a nice solid 2.5 lux for say £1500 & after a darn good service & check over & few cheap mods track it just as it is- (at the low end budget a 924S does often make better financial sence tho) while at the other end of the scale I know of a 944 with 968Cs implant & a seemingly mental £26k price tag.

There a huge number of permutations in between those figuress too- difficult to put a price on as it depends exactly what you are after & quite how far you want to prep the car.

Thing is tho you do have to budget for reasonable bills, as you've got to be aware of what its gunna cost if you do pop an engine or gearbox etc & they need a rebuild.

My rough rule of thumb with things like building a track car- particually with older cars- is to think of a sort of worst case secenario with labour costs & parts you might need etc- then double it & if it doesnt scare you too much- go for it.


Also with 944s id always bear in mind if you plough too much into it its just lost money & 968s can be had very reasonably & relitively cheaply nowdays- even CS's if not minters & they are (generally) far more desireable on resale than a track modded 944.


Anyway, without being too blatent, I'll be bunging my 944Turbo in the classifieds over the weekend or early next week when ive sorted pics etc, MO30 suspension, chipped, solid example etc etc. Might suit your purposes?

[iguana]

On that note, clicky-

www.clubgti.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64315&PN=1&TPN=1